These are the basic factions I have come up with on my own, based on my sense of history and the dynamics of the functions of nations.Obviously, these are very generic, because they have to be encompassing of many countries or groups that may be involved in this great conflict.If you would like to contribute and have a better idea, I would be more than willing to check it out!

Ever thought about World War III? With the advent of nuclear weapons, it's easy to contemplate the calamities and the disasters that a third global conflict could bring about. Certainly in the future, more countries will get their hands on, or develop, nuclear technology capable of decimating millions of people and causing mass ecological damage. World War III is indeed a haunting idea (as a nuclear and/or conventional war).

Have you ever thought of writing the storyline, the plot, to World War III? Maybe you already have?Here's your chance to do so on Conquer Club!

In this creative, community-driven tournament, 70 players will compete in 8 battles that make up our World War III.

Each battle will be a two-sided skirmish/conflict/invasion that will be ENTIRELY decided by players' votes.

Each player will be allowed to submit their idea, their battle, to the tournament page, and players will be allowed to vote for their favorites.

The maps and the settings will be stated in the battle. For instance, if your idea is an invasion of Antarctica, you can make Antarctica the map. Is it a covert invasion? You can make all games for the battle have Fog of War. Will there be nukes involved? Throw in nuclear spoils. It's all up to you: as long as you develop your idea and secure the votes, you can write history!

After all 8 battles, the 16 Medal of Honor Candidates will then battle in a best-of-7 single elimination tournament to determine the ultimate World War III warrior (the winner of the tournament)...

Whoever has the most pieces of history approved may be awarded a GA Medal.

Any of the 70 players may write history, even if you have qualified for the MOH Cup.

I will be quite lenient on our stories, as long as they follow these guidelines,

I indicate that there are two clear sides (countries, organizations, peoples, etc.), fighting against each other, in the battle.

One side must be designated as a member or defacto supporter of the Alliance for World Opportunity, and one side must be designated as a member or defacto supporter of the Confederation of Common Sense.

I provide a brief (a few sentences) summary of what triggers the battle/invasion/conflict.

I indicate the 1 Conquer Club map and the 1 group of settings ALL games (including the 1v1 games AND the 4-7 player Standard games) will be played on; remember, all games must be Automatic, Sequential, and Casual.

The map has not yet been used in the tournament, and it represents or is somehow connected to the events of the battlefield where the battle is taking place.

I post my submission on the tournament page.

The occurrences are reasonably historically plausible, and while the event may target a group of people or an ideology, I am not using this as a chance to be openly hostile, racist, or offensive toward a group of people or ideology.

While there may be nuclear warfare, I must allow for there to be another battle to follow mine; in other words, the world cannot end and there cannot be a resolution or end to fighting; the war must be able to continue after my battle.

I reserve the right to deny any submissions if I deem them in violation of any of these criteria.

The Occupy movement sparks a civil war in the United States. Chaos ensues as militia Occupy forces, with defacto support for the Alliance, battle U.S. National Guard and the U.S. Government, oriented towards the Confederation. Will the economic instability cause a decimating civil war and lead to the breakdown of America?

The battle takes place on Fractured America. The settings are Escalating Spoils, Unlimited Reinforcements (the movement is widespread and militia coordination is quick due to social networking), No Fog of War.

After each battle, I will post a message, and will allow for approximately 1 week (7 days) for players to post submissions upon the posting of this message.

After the 7 days, I will send a P.M. to all players to vote for their favorite entry in a poll that I create at the top of the tournament page. Entries will be numbered in the order in which they are posted; so if you post first, your submission will be Entry 1.

I will allow for approximately 3 days for players to vote.

The entry with the most votes after the voting period, provided it agrees with the aforementioned criteria, will be accepted and become the next piece of history (i.e. "battle").

There will be 8 opportunities for each of you to write history, in the sense that there are 8 major events, "battles", in our World War III, and each of you have the opportunity to contribute if you'd like, though it's not necessary!

Once the events for the battle have been agreed upon (i.e. players have voted), then I will send the piece of history, the details of the battle, to all 70 players.

Each player on each side is randomly assigned a number. Using the Sequence Generator at random.org, I will generate 7 "fronts" of 8 players each.Each front has 4 players from the Alliance, and 4 players from the Confederation.

*Note that not all 70 players are taking part here: I will go into detail later about this.

Deciding the Winning Faction in the FrontThe number of wins from each of the Alliance players are summed.The number of wins from each of the Confederation players are summed.Whichever faction (Alliance or Confederation) has the most wins will claim victory for that front.

Should the two factions have the same number of wins, then the player with the most wins from each faction will play in 1, 1v1 game. The faction of which the winner of this game belongs to will claim victory.

Determining the Faction that Emerges Victorious in the BattleRecall there are 7 fronts; whichever faction wins the most number of fronts (i.e. at least 4 of the 7 fronts) will win the battle. Thus, this is like a best-of-7 battle, where the winning faction is the one that wins at least 4 "fronts."

Often times in war, distinguished individuals emerge to lead their side to victory and glory. They stand apart in the history books and their names remain etched in the minds of the victorious in helping lead them to better days.

The win-loss records of ONLY the players in each faction who belonged to the overall triumphant faction of the Battle are ranked; the top 2 players will emerge to the MOH Qualification Matches.

The best way to explain this is through an example:

The Alliance wins the battle. 4 of the 7 fronts were victorious for the Alliance. Now, the 2 players with the most wins from ONLY these 4 factions that won for the Alliance advance to the MOH Qualification Matches. Therefore, there are a total of 8 players in the MOH Qualifiers, all of them from the Alliance's winning factions. They are randomly divided into 2 Standard games of 4 players each. The winner of each game enters the Medal of Honor Cup.

Therefore, as this example indicates, ONLY the fronts that contributed to their faction's victory are considered, and the 2 players (belonging to the winning faction) with the most wins from each of these fronts will take part.

Since there are 7 fronts, the winning factions must have claimed victory in either 4, 5, 6, or all 7 fronts.These conditions will stand in the MOH Qualifiers,

If the winning faction claimed victory in all 7 fronts, the 14 players (two from each front) will be randomly divided into 2, 7-player standard games. The winner of each game advances to the MOH Cup.

If the winning faction claimed victory in 6 fronts, the 12 players (two from each front) will be randomly divided into 2, 6-player standard games. The winner of each game advances to the MOH Cup.

If the winning faction claimed victory in 5 fronts, the 10 players (two from each front) will be randomly divided into 2, 5-player standard games. The winner of each game advances to the MOH Cup.

If the winning faction claimed victory in 4 fronts, the 8 players (two from each front) will be randomly divided into 2, 4-player standard games. The winner of each game advances to the MOH Cup.

Regarding 4-7 Player Standard Games:*All games which have more than 2 players will have an automatic, 50-round limit to ensure no stalemates ensue.*

If there are multiple players with the same number of wins in a front, then players will be ranked according to the Aggregate Rounds Total (ART): Considering only those games in which the players won, the number of rounds in each game will be summed. The player with the least ART will be ranked highest, and the player with the highest ART will be ranked lowest. Should multiple players have the same ART, then they will take part in 1 tie-breaker Standard game. The winner of the game will be ranked highest, the player first eliminated will be ranked lowest.

Charlie, Bob, and Ray each had 4 wins after their 6 games. Since only two players can advance, they must be ranked by ART. Over his four victories, Charlie played 27 rounds. Bob, summing all his round totals from his four victories, played 26 rounds. Ray played a total of 25 rounds (considering only the four victories, as before). Therefore, Ray has the lowest ART (25), and is ranked highest. Bob has the next lowest ART (26), and is therefore ranked next. In this example, Ray and Bob advance because they have the two lowest ARTs (Charlie has the highest at 27).

War sheds lots of blood...In each round, two players advance to the MOH Cup. This leaves one faction with 26 players and the other with 28. To fill the gap, two of the 14 players from the Recruit Training league will join the faction to even out the number of players on each side again.

Recruit Training LeagueAs before mentioned, the tournament begins with 70 players; 14 of these players will begin as Recruits, meaning they can only join once they are "drafted."When players join, they are ranked by the organizer according to their score. The 14 players with the lowest scores shall begin as Recruits. They will take part in the training league until they are drafted.

In Round 1, the 14 players will be randomly divided into 2 groups of 7 players. Each player will play every other player in their group once (meaning each player is granted 6 1v1 games, to be played simultaneously). The player in each group with the most wins shall be drafted and join the faction missing 2 players (as a result of winning the battles and the MOH Qualifiers).

Since two players are drafted, round 2's training league will only have 12 players. Therefore, the two groups will have 6 players each, and each player will be granted 5 games each. One player will advance from each group, in the same manner.

Round 3 therefore will only have 10 players in the recruit league. Therefore, the two groups will have 5 players each, and each player will be granted 4 games each. One player will advance from each group, in the same manner.

Round 4 will have only 8 players. The two groups will have 4 players each, and each player will be granted 3 games each. One player will advance from each group, in the same manner.

Round 5 will have only 6 players, but there will only be 1 group of 6 players (3 player groups are...blehh). The two players with the most wins advance, in the same manner.

Round 6 will only have 4 players, and there will be 1 group. The two players with the most wins advance, in the same manner.

In Round 7, there are only 2 players left. These players will automatically be drafted (as the war gets more gruesome, the factions need every bit of help they can get ). They will not play any games in the recruit league.

If there are multiple players with the same number of wins in a front, then players will be ranked according to the Aggregate Rounds Total (ART): Considering only those games in which the players won, the number of rounds in each game will be summed. The player with the least ART will be ranked highest, and the player with the highest ART will be ranked lowest. Should multiple players have the same ART, then they will take part in 1 tie-breaker Standard game. The winner of the game will be ranked highest, the player first eliminated will be ranked lowest.

Charlie, Bob, and Ray each had 4 wins after their 6 games. Since only two players can advance, they must be ranked by ART. Over his four victories, Charlie played 27 rounds. Bob, summing all his round totals from his four victories, played 26 rounds. Ray played a total of 25 rounds (considering only the four victories, as before). Therefore, Ray has the lowest ART (25), and is ranked highest. Bob has the next lowest ART (26), and is therefore ranked next. In this example, Ray and Bob advance because they have the two lowest ARTs (Charlie has the highest at 27).

Medal of Honor Cup

Who knows what life will be like after the third Great War? Every facet of society will be radically changed.Map: RandomSettings:Automatic Initial TroopsSequential Play OrderEscalating SpoilsChained ReinforcementsNo fog of warCasual Round Length

After all 8 battles, 16 players have advanced into the Medal of Honor Cup.

The 16 players will be randomly divided into 8 pairs of 2 players each.Each pair of players shall play 7 1v1 games on a Random map (using the Random setting).The player who wins the most number of games advances. The losing player is eliminated.

The 8 advancing players will be randomly divided into 4 pairs of 2 players each.Each pair of players shall play 7 1v1 games on a Random map (using the Random setting). The player who wins the most number of games advances. The losing player is eliminated.

The 4 advancing players will be randomly divided into 2 pairs of 2 players each.Each pair of players shall play 7 1v1 games on a Random map (using the Random setting).The player who wins the most number of games advances. The losing player is eliminated.

I am pending approval for a General Achievement medal, the Nostradamus Award. The player who has the most number of submissions voted into the tournament shall be awarded the Nostradamus Award.Should multiple players have the same number of submissions voted into the tournament, then each player shall be awarded the Nostradamus Award.Should the tournament organizer be the player who has written the most number of submissions, he will refuse to be awarded the Nostradamus Award.

Thank you for your attention, I know it is a lot and I surely don't expect you to read over 5% of it If you find any horrific holes in the format let me know

Please join. NOW

Sincerely, have a great day,James

Last edited by WorldCup4James on Thu Mar 07, 2013 10:30 pm, edited 161 times in total.

Standings are checked by the tournament organiser and verified again using the community-developed Tournament Stats tool.

Those players who have the same number of wins are ranked by the ART: Aggregate Round Total: this means I add up the number of rounds it took for players to win all their games (so if you won 3 games in 8 rounds each, your ART would be 24r): the player with the lowest number of rounds is ranked higher (thus, players who finish games quicker are rewarded).

There are 7 fronts, each with 4 Alliance and 4 Confederation players. Whichever side has more wins in each front claims victory in that front. Whichever side claims victory in the most number of fronts triumphs in the Battle. The two players with the most number of wins in each front that the winning side claimed victory in advance to play in 4-7 player Standard games to qualify for the Medal of Honor Cup.

Each player plays every other player on the opposing side once in a 1v1 game. Thus, each player plays 4 1v1 games.

When hostilities resumed, the trigger was oil, as the pundits had always expected it would be. This time, the disputed areas were not in the Middle East, but in the waters of the South China Sea. For almost 30 years China had been extracting oil from disputed waters claimed by Vietnam and/or the Phillipines. At first there had been pretenses of negotiation, and the Philippines at least in theory were protected by the U.S. Still, as time went on, it became steadily more obvious that the U.S. was not going to risk war with China, and the Chinese became steadily more arrogant in asserting control of the region.

With rampant poverty in the Philippines, and oil revenues seen as one of the few realistic hopes for correcting it, the Philippine government became steadily more desperate. In the wake of the success of Africa Feeds Africans, a charismatic new leader arose in the House of Representatives, and forced through a bill making it mandatory for the government to attempt to secure control of its undersea resources, through any means, including war.

The precise details of how combat began are lost, for there were no survivors of the first battle. What is known is that at some point on that fateful September day, guided missile frigates of the Chinese and Philippine navies exchanged missiles, leading to their mutual destruction. Within minutes, alarm bells were ringing not only around the South China Sea, but all around the world, for everyone knew that this conflict might escalate and implicate them somehow.

Sure enough, idealists of the AFA recognised the Philippine struggle as being inherently the same as the one they had just gone through in Africa, and within days volunteer corps from Africa and Europe were streaming to the East.....

EDF CRISIS COUNCIL, IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION NEAR BRUSSELS"Okay, at last we are not alone in the world. The second largest nation on earth is on our side," concluded the Foreign Affairs Minister.

"Trouble is, an angry Russian bear and 300 million Arabs stand between us and our new friend, which will make co-operation difficult," cautioned the Chairman.

"Arabs which would not be angry if not for your premature grab at the Suez," piped up a truculent voice from the other end of the table.

The Chairman glared in that direction. "We all knew the stakes, we all had our say. Please let's not start squabbling over what went wrong in the past. Okay, what can we do better in the future?"

An old general spoke up. "The Suez plan was the right thing to do, although perhaps the timing was bad. But we are not without resources. We have a lot of friends in Africa. Fair-weather friends perhaps; friends who were afraid to line up beside us when it looked like we might not live to see tomorrow, but friends nonetheless. Now that our extinction does not look quite as close as it once did, perhaps it is time to bring them to our orbit."

"You have a plan?"

"Oh, yes. For a century or more, the corporate nabobs of America have built the myth that Africa is incapable of feeding itself. By covertly supporting corrupt regimes and fomenting civil wars, they create artificial food shortages. They then ship food to Africa, thereby accomplishing three goals: perpetuating the myth, keeping Africa subservient and in debt, and keeping food prices high in their own countries to satisfy the rural electorate. They then rape Africa's wealth of strategic metals at rock-bottom prices as payment of the debt which should never have been incurred. It's a brilliant scam, really.

In the last 20 years or so China and other East Asian powers have jumped on the bandwagon and started playing the pity Africa game too.

The really ironic part is that even while starvation is common in Africa, the continent as a whole still exports more food than it imports! Now there's a new homegrown revolutionary movement down there, called Africa Feeds Africans, which is sweeping the countryside. It seeks to put a stop to the exportation primarily of food but also of other resources. It has a lofty goal of exposing all corrupt officials of all political stripes. It is hostile to America and hostile to China, and it very much is in the market for a new friend.

Perhaps a new friend who very much resembles an old friend -- Europa!"

"So what kind of a war are we to expect?" asked a skeptical voice.

"That's the beauty of it. For us, it's a very limited war. Some covert ops here, some resupply flights there. Basically it's a legitimate and spontaneous revolution. We don't have to create it and we don't have to fight, or at least not much. Mainly we just have to help.

And there's an added bonus: the Russians. The Russians used to be major players of the Africa game back in the 1970s, but during the 1990s it all came apart for them and they've pretty much been frozen out of it by American and East Asian money. Giving the Americans and East Asians a black eye here will be pleasing to the Russians. They might even remember that they are Europeans after all!"

"Well, that would be something to see!" declared the Chairman.

Map: Africa II

Settings:

Escalating Spoils (as a revolution should be.)Adjacent Fortifications (local terrain makes reinforcement difficult.)Foggy (as much of the action is covert.)

Alliance

The A.F.A. (Africa Feeds Africans) revolutionary movement, with aid from Europe, India, and eventually Russia.

Confederation

Established African dictators and warlords, with aid from the USA, China, and Japan.

The alliances have been made. The line has been drawn. Dozens of languages and hundreds of dialects will come together as one. They will run out the last vestiges of imperialism, heretofore clinging despite their official ouster. The time has come for the Indian people them to speak as one.--------------After being turned back in their siege of the Suez Canal, the EDF was hungry for victory and not a little desperate for support. Where better to turn than the noble peoples of the Indian subcontinent? People with great intrinsic appreciation for the land and for nature, by their accounting. The EDF thought it perfect- an opportunity for a true alliance prepared in every way to turn back the impending wave led by the confederacy of UN commercial imperialism. For the EDF and the hatching Alliance, the writing was on the wall: they needed manpower to stem the tide or they ran the risk of being crushed.---------------After decades of unrest to the northwest, the mineral and religious conflicts which did not quite simmer to the level of global warfare, international interest had finally come to acknowledge that better than one-fifth of the world's population was indeed Indian. And the EDF came to find that the subcontinent was ready to join the fight. The world was about to hear from its most populous nation, since the near-genocide of the Chinese farmers. Finally, they would hear from one fifth of its manpower.

One fifth of its warriors.

Map: Indian Empire

Settings:

Escalating Spoils (the "home side" using its growing population but unwilling to engage their nuclear program just yet)Adjacent Fortifications(common spirit only gets you so far in a land of dialects and population sub-groups)Foggy (the UN has overlooked India a long time... perhaps too long)

Alliance

United Peoples of India, with considerable assistance from EDF Alliance forces fleeing from Egypt.

Confederation

The UK, Russia, and other major capitalist interests from the UN, who will no longer be tolerated to manipulate and exploit the subcontinent.

BY A VALVE-CONTROL STATION ON THE DRUZHBA PIPELINE, SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF BRYANSK...two men looked at each other with grim faces.

"So the pussies from the west think that murdering our leaders will make us cave in," said the first.

"They've miscalculated," said the other, a large rugged man in the uniform of a Russian Army general.

"Will there be war?"

The general looked thoughtful for a long, long time. "Maybe." he answered, "For now, we will stop selling them our oil."

"They say they don't want our oil. They say they want to live on clean energy."

"Yes, and when they want to go from one place to another they will sprinkle fairy dust on their cars and fly," the general spat in disgust. "They're going to run a society of 400,000,000 people on windmills and water wheels? All the windmills in Europe wouldn't light up the south end of Dusseldorf."

"Yes," said the other with a smirk. "It's interesting that the flow in the pipeline hasn't slowed down since the change."

The general looked towards the pipeline, and the flow control building, and nodded. "Shut it down," he said.

A SIMILAR STATION, ON A SIMILAR PIPE, SOMEWHERE NEAR POSOF, TURKEY... a man was careful to keep his breathing under control. With precise movements he attached the wires to the detonators, checking and double-checking the connections he made. Satisfied with his work, he put his tools back in his pockets.

As he completed the final, irrevocable step and activated the timer, a tiny LCD display began counting down. A look of shock came over his face, and then amusement. After all these years of flawless engineering, he was about to meet his end through a stupid rookie mistake. He had set the timer for 20 seconds instead of 20 minutes.

In his last seconds he thought about his girlfriend Anna, one perfect day last July, when they had gone on a vacation in the capital. He thought about her standing in front of the the Cathedral of the Archangel Micheal, her long hair blowing in the wind.....

EDF CRISIS COUNCIL, IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION NEAR BRUSSELS... the professor completed his briefing to the Council, "Severe shortages will begin within 15 days. During that time you will still have options. After that your only options will be to go on your knees, either to Moscow or to Washington, and beg for oil."

The Chairman turned to the Foreign Trade Minister. "The Arabs are still friendly?"

"As long as we have cash, the Gulf Arabs will sell us anything we want. But with most of the pipelines blown, it means nothing. And with Russian puppets ruling in Cairo, it's not likely we'll get permission to use the Suez."

The Chairman turned to the room. "The motion before us is that we occupy the Suez in order to secure oil shipments from the Persian Gulf." He paused for a minute. "Lest anyone ever claim that they were misinformed: make no mistake. There will be no namby-pamby carnival like in 1956. This will be real war, with real costs and casualties, and if we give it anything less than 100%, we will fail. Debate?"

Debate continued for hours, but the result was inevitable. The vote to seize the Suez Canal was 11-4 in favour.

Since the Industrial Revolution, environmental groups have protested the destruction and exploitation of our world's natural beauty and resources. For equally as long, they have been mostly ignored and regarded as "tree hugging hippies." Some have protested peacefully, some have sought legislative action; others such as Earth First and the Earth Liberation Front have taken a more militant approach.

When the world witnessed the unilateral destruction of the Amazon rainforest, recruiting for and belief in these organizations swelled dramatically. Support has grown so much due to outrage at the actions of the United Nations Security Council member nations for their actions in Brazil that goals that had previously only been fantasy and pipe dreams now may well be attainable.

To truly enact change, the environmental groups need true power, the power only established governments can wield. The governments and populace of the European nations have always been more supportive of environmental causes. It is in Europe that they hope to attain the power and influence to change the destructive course of the world.

Not wanting to be undone by traitors from within like in China, or to be flanked militarily as happened in the Amazon basin, the Earth Defense Forces (EDF) have developed a multi-faceted approach to their goal of attaining power. The peacefully minded groups will build popular support, finding support in local, state, and national governments. Their goals are to quickly gain majority influence in European governments and gain support for the movement while working tirelessly to identify and root out traitors. Simultaneously, the more militant groups will use any means necessary to eliminate those in power that are opposed to their earth first agenda, particularly in the U.N security council governments of Russia, France, and the U.K. Will the environmental movement gain control of European power and influence? Or will yet another popular peoples' movement be exposed and violently crushed?

The collapse of the worker's rebellion in China was a major blow to labour organisations all over the world. The flow of cheap goods from China not only resumed, but became even cheaper, as millions of workers who had participated in the rebellion were sent to slave labour camps as part of their "re-education."

The nations who were impacted worst were not the wealthiest nations. Those had been dealing with cheap imports from China for nearly a hundred years, and their economies were well acclamatized to the situation. The worst impacts fell on those nations who were China's natural competitors: developing nations who until now had provided even cheaper labour than China.

One such nation was Brazil, already facing numerous economic and social problems, now thrown into chaos. Brazil had once been close to developing nuclear weapons, but in 1990 had voluntarily abandoned its nuclear research program and accepted the Non-proliferation treaty. Now, a new military junta took power, and aided by twenty-first century technological advances, was able to complete its first nuclear weapon in only a few short months.

Motivated partly by economic desperation, and partly by simple old-fashioned megalomania and xenophobia, the Junta Nova developed a plan to launch a nuclear strike against China. They knew they couldn't match China directly, but they were confident that most of the world secretly hated China, and that if they could do substantial damage in the first strike, the rest of the world would join in and finish the job.

The Chinese appealed to the UN Security Council, and in a rare show of unanimity all of the Permanent Members of the Security Council agreed to take action to destroy the Brazilian nuclear program. They didn't realize just how well organized the Brazilian forces were, and what should have been a quick commando operation in Amazonia soon degenerated into full-scale war.

Map: BrazilSpoils: NuclearReinforcements: ChainedFoggy: Very

Alliance:Brazil,numerous small contingents from many third world nations

Confederacy:Permanent Security Council Members (U.S., U.K., Russia, China, and France)

After decades of oppression, low wages, poor working conditions, environmental pollution, and censorship, an underground workers movement gains steam in China, and millions of fed up factory workers strike nationwide. This is followed by a brutally violent government crackdown. The Chinese workers party (CWP) now sees complete overthrow of the Chinese government as their only option.To compete militarily with the well armed Chinese government forces (CGF) the CWP gathers support Regionally from India, Tibet, Mongolia, and Korea forming the Alliance with the like goals of undoing Chinese oppression of freedom and technology. The CGF gains the support of like minded regimes in Russia and Vietnam, forming the confederation.

I'll definitely play. I'm a bit sad to be straitjacketed into a cliched Left/Right dichotomy. I would have liked some more interesting and balanced choices. But after thinking about it for a few hours, I'm not going to suggest any changes. Any more choices would just complicate the tourney and make it less practical, if more philosophically palatable.

I'll definitely play. I'm a bit sad to be straitjacketed into a cliched Left/Right dichotomy. I would have liked some more interesting and balanced choices. But after thinking about it for a few hours, I'm not going to suggest any changes. Any more choices would just complicate the tourney and make it less practical, if more philosophically palatable.

Anyway, I'll choose the Confederacy as the lesser of two evils.

Yes, I realize that a war would have many factions and of course not every supporter of each side agrees on EVERYTHING, but I think for the simplicity of the tourney, a 1v1 style would work better than having to deal with numerous factions. Clearly, you're not a socialist just because you believe in self-determinism.

I think I'll still be working on the factions. Again, if there's any player input and if you have better ideas, I'll gladly consider them, and then feature your name along with the ideas.

I might suggest you define specificaly which areas of the world are controlled by which faction at the start. This would make adding to the narrative easier and avoid conflicting stories.

I'd also strongly suggest that the MOH finalists are chosen from BOTH sides when the war is over. This would avoid players not having a shot at the win despite an excellent performance. I don't see it as detracting from the flavour of the theme as it is no more out of context then the top aces of the victorious side only battling each other as soon victory is won. I don't expect it but if you happen to change your mind on this point I would very much like to join the Confederation.

Awesome work in any case. I look forward to seeing what other tourneys you might make.